"Full many a gem of purest ray serene. The dark unfathomed caves of ocean bear; Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, And waste its sweetness on the desert air." You speculate upon the story of his life, for you feel that it has a secret, if not a tragedy, connected with it, into which you may not probe. You ask yourself the question, "Has not his life been wasted?" and if he alone is to be considered, there is none but an affirmative answer. But his life has not been barren of results. He has been a contributory factor in the upbuilding of an empire, for he is one of the class who laid the foundations of western prosperity. These men came west for various reasons, some actuated by the spirit of adventure, some to acquire fortunes or to retrieve vanished ones, others possibly to outlive the stigma of youthful mistakes. In the lives of many of them are sealed chapters. It is with such that these pages have to do. ALFRED CASTNER KING. OURAY, COLO., 1907. _CONTENTS_ _The Passing of the Storm_ _Page_ _I._ _The Storm_ _17_ _II._ _A Chapter from an Old Man's Life_ _28_ _III._ _The Prisoner_ _36_ _IV._ _A Sequel of the Lost Cause_ _49_ _V._ _The Avalanche_ _58_ _VI._ _The Rescue_ _65_ _VII._ _The Blight of War_ _72_ _VIII._ _The Story of an Exile_ _93_ _IX._ _Conclusion_ _115_ _Dolores_ _120_ _Great Shepherd of the Countless Flocks of Stars_ _122_ _The Ruined Cabin_ _123_ _An Idyll_ _124_ _The Borderland of Sleep_ _125_ _Stellar Nocturne_ _126_ _Father, at Thy Altar Kneeling_ _127_ _Dreams_ _128_ _Nocturne_ _129_ _The True Faith_ _131_ _A Fragment_ _131_ _Mortality_ _132_ _LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS_ _Facing Page_ _"The mountains lay in calm repose Slumbering 'neath their robes of white."_ _Title._ _"As stormy cowls their summits hid."_ _17_ _"Exceeding the tremendous height Of brother peaks, on left and right."_ _26_ _"Beseamed with countless scars and rents From combat with the elements."_ _30_ _"He towered with mute and massive form A challenge to the gathering storm."_ _40_